1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ejecting mechanism of an information recording medium in, for instance, an optical information recording and/or reproducing apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information by using an information recording medium having. A shape other than a circular shape.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, a read only compact disc, a write once and read mostly (WORM) type optical disk, and the like have been known as optical information recording media. The study, development, and realization of an information processing system such as an electronic file system or the like using those recording media are being executed more and more. Further, in recent years, an information processing system using a card-shaped optical recording medium, i.e., an optical card which is superior to the disk-shaped recording medium in terms of portability, has also been highlighted.
For example, in U.S. Ser. No. 047,290 (same assignee), there have been proposed an optical recording medium in which concentric or spiral information tracks are formed on the surface of a rectangular card and an information recording and reproducing apparatus using such a medium.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of an optical card C having an almost rectangular card shape. Although the size of optical card C is not particularly limited, it is preferably sized such that the card can be enclosed in a pocket, purse, or the like and in the case of carrying the card, it is not too large nor small. For instance, the card is dimensionsed to approximately 85.6 mm.times.54.0 mm. In FIG. 1, a circular recording area D in which a center position O of the optical card C is used as a center is formed on the surface of the optical card C. A number of concentric or spiral information tracks are arranged in the recording area D.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an optical information reproducing apparatus for reproducing information by rotating the optical card C. In FIG. 2, a turntable 1 onto which the optical card C is put is rotated by a spindle motor 2 attached below the turntable 1. A guide groove 3 having a width which is fairly larger than a length of short side of the optical card C is formed on the upper surface of the turntable 1. A leaf spring 4 is attached to one wall of the guide groove 3. When the optical card C is put on the guide groove 3, the card is pressed to the other wall of the guide groove 3 by the leaf spring 4. On the other hand, a pin-shaped stopper 5 is provided at one end of the guide groove 3. A lever 7 is rotatably attached at the other end of the guide groove 3 at a position around a pin 6 provided in the outside of the guide groove 3 on the turntable 1. One end of a coil spring 8 is attached to the turntable 1. The other end of the coil spring 8 is connected to the lever 7. The operational edge of the lever 7 presses the optical card C on the guide groove 3 to the stopper 5 by the tensile force of the coil spring 8.
The insertion and ejection of the optical card C into and from the turntable 1 are executed in a state in which the lever 7 is rotated around the pin 6 against the tensile force of the coil spring 8 and the operational edge of the lever 7 is moved out of the guide groove 3. The optical card C is inserted in the direction of an arrow X in the guide groove 3 and is moved to a position where the front edge of the card abuts on the stopper 5 while being pressed to the wall on the opposite side by the leaf spring 4. Thereafter, the lever 7 is come into contact with the card C and the card is fixed. In a state in which the optical card C is fixed by the leaf spring 4 and lever 7, the center position O of the recording area D is located onto the axial center of the rotating shaft of the spindle motor 2.
On the other hand, a feed screw 9 and a guide rail 10 are attached in parallel in the horizontal direction over the turntable 1. An optical head 11 is movably mounted to the feed screw 9 and guide rail 10. A female screw which engages the feed screw 9 is provided in the optical head 11. The optical head 11 is slidably attached to the guide rail 10. When the feed screw 9 is rotated by a drive motor (not shown), the optical head 11 is moved along the guide rail 10 and accesses the recording area D on the optical card C which is rotated by the spindle motor 2 in the direction of an arrow W, so that the recorded information can be reproduced.
In the foregoing example, the optical card C is ejected out in a state in which the operational edge of the lever 7 is moved out of the guide groove 3 as mentioned above. However, in the case of automatically ejecting out the optical card C, the alignment of the guide groove 3 needs to be accurately made to coincide with the ejecting conveying direction of the optical card C. If the matching accuracy in this case is low, not only a conveyance error occurs but also there is a danger such that the optical card C itself will be damaged.
On the other hand, in recent optical cards, there have been proposed many optical cards on each of which a mark such as characters, photographs, or the like is printed so that the operator can check the content of the optical card with the eyes. In the case of using such an optical card, it is natural for the operator to insert the optical card into the information recording and/or reproducing apparatus in a state in which the mark such as characters, photographs, or the like printed on the optical card is directed in such a direction as to be easily read by the operator and the card is ejected out in the same state as above. Further, such a method is also convenient upon operation. However, the above information recording and/or reproducing apparatus does not have means for accurately directing the optical card in the ejecting direction, so that such an operation cannot be executed and is inconvenient.